Solanum mammosum
Encyclopedia
- "Cow's Udder" and variants redirect here. You may be looking for information found in Cow and UdderUdderAn udder is an organ formed of the mammary glands of female quadruped mammals, especially ruminants such as cattle, goats, sheep and deer. The udder is a single mass hanging beneath the animal, consisting of pairs of mammary glands...
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Solanum mammosum is commonly known as Nipplefruit, Titty Fruit, Cow's Udder, or, ambiguously, "Apple of Sodom
Apple of Sodom (disambiguation)
Apple of Sodom, Calotropis procera is a plant native to the Dead Sea and Sodom, Israel and other desert regions.Apple of Sodom may also refer to:Plants:* Solanum carolinense , native to North America...
". It is an annual
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
to perennial plant
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
in the Solanaceae
Solanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
family, part of the Solanum
Solanum
Solanum, the nightshades, horsenettles and relatives, is a large and diverse genus of annual and perennial plants. They grow as forbs, vines, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees, and often have attractive fruit and flowers. Many formerly independent genera like Lycopersicon or Cyphomandra are...
or nightshade genus, and a relative of the tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
and potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
. This poisonous fruit is native to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, but has been naturalized
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
in the Greater Antilles
Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...
, Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
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In Chinese culture it is known as five fingered eggplant(五指茄). In Japan it is known as Fox Face.
Uses
The plant is grown for ornamental purposes, in part because of the distal end of the fruit's resemblance to a human breastBreast
The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues...
, while the proximal end looks like a cow's udder
Udder
An udder is an organ formed of the mammary glands of female quadruped mammals, especially ruminants such as cattle, goats, sheep and deer. The udder is a single mass hanging beneath the animal, consisting of pairs of mammary glands...
. It is reputed to have medicinal use
Herbalism
Herbalism is a traditional medicinal or folk medicine practice based on the use of plants and plant extracts. Herbalism is also known as botanical medicine, medical herbalism, herbal medicine, herbology, herblore, and phytotherapy...
in various treatments, from athlete's foot
Athlete's foot
Athlete's foot is a fungal infection of the skin that causes scaling, flaking, and itch of affected areas. It is caused by fungi in the genus Trichophyton and is typically transmitted in moist areas where people walk barefoot, such as showers or bathhouses...
to irritability and restlessness, and is sometimes used as a detergent
Detergent
A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with "cleaning properties in dilute solutions." In common usage, "detergent" refers to alkylbenzenesulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water...
. It is imported to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
as decorative foliage for use in religious and festival floral arrangements
Floristry
Floristry is the general term used to describe production, commerce and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design or flower arranging, merchandising, and display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related supplies to professionals in the trade...
. They are commonly used in building Chinese New Year tree
New Year tree
New Year trees are decorations similar to Christmas trees that are displayed in various cultures, but should not be confused with a North American practice of not removing a tree until New Years; such a tree is still considered a Christmas tree....
s due to their auspicious golden coloured fruit.
Synonyms
This plant is not easily confused, but several now-invalid scientific names have been given to it:- Solanum corniculatum E.André (non Huber: preoccupied)
- S. corniculatum of Hiern refers to an unidentifiable species of LycianthesLycianthesLycianthes is a genus of plants from the nightshade family , found in both the Old World and the New World, but predominantly in the latter. It contains roughly 200 species, mostly from tropical America, with 35-40 species in Asia and the Pacific.-Characteristics:Lycianthes is apparently closely...
.- Solanum cornigerum E.André
- S. cornigerum of Dunal in de Candolle is now S. viscosissimum.
- Solanum globiferum Dunal
- Solanum mammosum var. corniculum Ridl.
- Solanum mamosissimum Ram.Goyena
- Solanum platanifolium Sims
- S. platanifolium var. lagoense is the Solanum affine of Otto SendtnerOtto SendtnerOtto Sendtner was a German botanist and phytogeographer born in Munich.He received his education at the University of Munich, where he was a student of Karl Friedrich Schimper...
.- Solanum villosissimum Zuccagni
In addition, the name Solanum mammosum was also invalidly given to other nightshade species:
- S. mammosum as described by J.A. Pavón JiménezJosé Antonio Pavón JiménezJosé Antonio Pavón Jiménez or José Antonio Pavón was a Spanish botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Carlos III from 1777 to 1788...
based on Dunal in de Candolle refers to S. circinatum. - S. mammosum as described by W. Herbert based on Dunal in de Candolle is the S. torvumSolanum torvumSolanum torvum , is a bushy, erect and spiny perennial plant used horticulturally as a rootstock for eggplant. Grafted plants are very vigorous and tolerate diseases affecting the root system, thus allowing the crop to continue for a second year.It is also known as Devil's Fig, Prickly Nightshade,...
of O.P. SwartzOlof SwartzOlof Peter Swartz was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for his taxonomic work and studies into pteridophytes...
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